U.S. Cancels New Bio-Threat Warning System

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The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has canceled plans to install an automated technology that was meant to speed the 24-hour operations of BioWatch, the national system for detecting a biological attack.

According to Government Technology the cancellation of the “Generation 3” acquisition was made Thursday at the direction of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson, according to a memorandum circulated by Michael V. Walter, the BioWatch program manager. Homeland Security officials earlier had told companies interested in supplying the technology that it would spend $3.1 billion for it during the first five years of operation.

iHLS – Israel Homeland Security

To date, the overall BioWatch program has cost taxpayers more than $1.1 billion. Walter said in his memo that the department “remains committed to the BioWatch program and the importance of improving our early warning and detection technologies.”

Johnson’s decision to cancel the technology marks a reversal of policy. For the better part of a decade, officials from both the Obama and George W. Bush administrations have told Congress that Generation 3 — described as a “lab in a box” that could sift air for viruses, germs and other biological threats and relay findings electronically — was worth the investment.